You may think that your life is inadequate.
That your life has fallen short of being enough to matter.
That your life does not contribute with value and significance.
“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” Helen Keller
“Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music” Angela Monet
Let me invite you to read the Parable of the Cracked Pot.
As you read the parable embrace the significance and value of your seeming flaws.
Be Yourself and Flourish!
The Parable of the Cracked Pot
A Water Bearer in India had two large pots; each hung on each end of a pole, which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pot’s full of water in his masters house.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water-bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.”
“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”
“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your masters house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts.” The pot said.
The Water Bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the masters house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the Pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pots side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my masters table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”
Do not Be Afraid of Your Seeming Flaws
Each of us has our own unique flaws. We re all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, the Lord will use our flaws and cracks to grace His Fathers table. In God’s great economy, nothing goes to waste. My encouragement to you my friend is — as I need to encourage myself — do not be afraid of your flaws.
Give your flaws to a loving God and He will use them.
Embrace Your Seeming Flaws
As we embrace our flaws and surrender then to a loving God, He can use them.
He can use them to bless both our path and the path’s of of those individuals He brings into our lives.
Living with a Disability, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Courage
Quotes that Inspire
“Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” Theodore Roosevelt
“I was told over and over again that I would never be successful, that I was not going to be competitive and the technique was simply not going to work. All I could do is shrug my shoulders and say, ‘we’ll just have to see.” Dick Fosbury (Olympic Gold Medalist. Inventor of the “Fosbury Flop” High Jump Technique)
“Regardless of your lot in life, you can build some thing beautiful on it.” Zig Ziglar
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” Mother Teresa
“Insist on yourself, never imitate. Your own gift you can present with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent you only have an extemporaneous half-possession…Do that which is assigned to you and you can not hope too much or dare too much.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along which comes the inner voice, which says, “This is the real me” and when you have found that attitude, follow it”. James Truslow Adams
“If you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams and endeavor to live the life that you have imagined…You will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” Henry David Thoreau
“It is not as important what happened/happens to us, but how we respond to what happened/happens to us.” Craig J. Phillips MRC, BA
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